Blossoms of the 



— make it most ready to hybridize. The 

 pollen of the black willow may fertilize the 

 flower of the white willow, with a result that 

 certainly tends to grayness on the worrying 

 head of the botanist who, in after years, is 

 trying to locate the result of the cross ! 



There is much variety in the willow flowers 



— and I wonder how many observers really 

 notice any other willow ^^ blossoms" than those 

 of the showy pussy? A superb spring day 

 afield took me along a fascinatingly crooked 

 stream, the Conodoguinet, whose banks furnish 

 a congenial and as yet protected (because con- 



io8 



